Chapter 4 - Page 2

mountain, three miles high, with you throwin' harmless leetle pebbles at me."

"And yet," said Paul, "while you two are always pretending to quarrel, each would be eager to risk death for the other if need be."

"It's only my sense o' duty, an' o' what you call proportion," said Shif'less Sol. "Long Jim, ez you know, is six feet an' a half tall. Ef the Injuns wuz to take him an' burn him at the stake he'd burn a heap longer than the av'rage man. What a torch Jim would make! Knowin' that an' always b'arin' it in mind, I'm jest boun' to save Jim from sech a fate. It ain't Jim speshully that I'm thinkin' on, but I'd hate to know that a man six an' a half feet long wuz burnin' 'long his whole len'th."

"Another band has joined Wyatt," said Henry. "See, here comes the trail!"

The new force had arrived from the east, and it contained apparently twenty warriors, raising Braxton Wyatt's little army to about sixty men.

"But they still run," said Shif'less Sol. "The new ones hev ketched all the terror an' superstition that the old ones feel, an' the whole crowd is off fur the Ohio. Look how the trail widens!"

"And Braxton Wyatt is beginning to feel better," said Henry. "His own particular trail does not waver so much now. Ah, they've stopped here for a council. Braxton probably stood on that old fallen log and addressed them, because the traces of his footsteps lead directly to it. Yes, the bark here is rubbed a little, where he stood. They gathered in a half circle before him, as their footprints show very plainly, and they listened to him respectfully. He, being white, was recovering from the superstitious terror, but the Shawnees were still under its spell. After hearing him they continued their flight. Here goes their trail, all in a bunch, straight toward the north!"

"An' thar won't be no stop 'til they strike the Ohio," said Shif'less Sol with conviction.

"I agree with you," said Henry.

"And so do all of us," said Paul.

"And of course we follow on," said Henry, "right to the water's edge!"

"We do," said the others all together.

"The Ohio isn't very far now," said Henry.

"Ten or fifteen miles, p'raps," said Shif'less Sol.

"And it's likely that we'll find a big force gathered there."

"Looks that way to me, Henry. Mebbe the band o' Blackstaffe will be waitin' to join that o' Wyatt. Then, feelin' mighty strong, they'll come back after us."

"'Less we fill 'em full o' fear whar they stan'. Mebbe they'll stop at the river a day or two, an' then we kin git to work. Water which hides will help us."

They passed on through the forest, noting that the trail was growing wide